#278 - Rooster's Regret

Tied by: Marcelo Morales
Originated by: Carrie Stevens
Source: Forgotten Flies, Schmookler & Sils (1999) Pg. 372

Hook: Partridge CS15 #4
Thread: White 6/0
Tag: Silver flat tinsel
Body: Red floss
Rib: Silver flat tinsel
Belly: White bucktail
Throat: Black hackle fibers
Underwing: Silver pheasant crest
Wing: 4 yellow hackles
Shoulder: Mallard flank dyed red or red golden pheasant
Eye: Jungle cock nail
Head: Black (original had orange head with black band)

Notes: Carrie Stevens tied many streamers throughout her 25 years as a commercial fly tyer with many streamers being custom tied for customers. Some of these patterns were one off patterns, established regional standards and some were her own patterns with modifications. The Rooster's Regret falls into this last category, being a variation of the Morning Glory, coming from a private collection. The Morning Glory differs only in the throat, with the morning glory having blue added to the throat.

The Rooster's Regret moniker also has roots farther back in Maine's angling history. Alonzo Bacon, a guide from Grand Lake Stream, developed a pattern using long chicken feathers lashed to a bare hook. He christened his lure the Rooster's Regret. The crude pattern proved to be a successful lure for the land-locked salmon, trout, and bass of Northern Maine. The concept was modified, refined and adapted by fly tyers and guides through the years leading to the development of what we know as the feather-wing streamer.